Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-12-23
precious young wiper snd poaching

"You're - began Dick, fuTiously.
"Silence Talbot" cried the sergeant,
and he was pulled away.
"And look here, consaAble,'' said the
magistrate, "you had better have that
dawg of his drowned or destroyed; it is
a vicious cur"
"All right, your worship" was the re-
Spouse, while Dick, clutchipg Ringo
tightly and despairingly, was lugged
rather roughly away.
Now It CHANGED that in the constable,
Sergeant Hawksley suddenly discovered
au old comrade, with whom he Immediate
Iy fraternlzed, and TO whose kindly care
he specially commended Dick. for the
worthy nom commissioned officer IVES
really Interested in the homeless but
spirited lad who seemed to hsVe 70 friend
but his dog, and wss honestly concerned
for the mistake Of which he knew hims elf
to be the innocent cause.
Thus be told Dick to "keep up his
spirits till MORROW" when he should
see BIN Sgair; meanwhile, with some
forethought, he msde arrangement about
food for him, and went away, after which
poor Dick, feeling very lonely and miser-
able. was confined in c small apartment
kind OF cell, with & wooden bed and
couple OF blankets as furniture, nothing
more-wherein 10 pass the entire day and
following night as best be could; his
only solace amid his neW affection being
that his deg was left with him ct least till
the time expired.
Committed to his own reflections now,
they took very darkened, bitter turn in
deed, as the silent and lonely hours of
the day passed sloWly-oh, how slowly!
on.
In his solitude he thought much over
the whole situation in which he found
himself. His military ardour was con-
siderably cooled, if not crushed; his
natural pride and sensitiVeress had
received more than one most serious
shock.
In the Western Fusiliers he would not
and could not associate with such re-
puIsive fellows as Corporal Cutters and
his companions; thus he resolved if
be could to avoid it; that gallant corps
should not be favored with his services
therein, nor would he undergo the fatal
ceremony Of attestation theref)r
He remembered to have heard Mon
tssue Lonsdsle say that at this very
period many good fellows who had failed
to commit the bsrbsrisms Of Chaucer to
heart, and the most obscure passages of
Shakespeare to memory for Exams, and
had failed to get suitable employment OF
any kind after years wasted in useless
study, had enlisted; and that in one hus-
sar regiment there was an entire troop OF
public school and university men, who
had plucklly become troopers as their
only opening in life; while In the ranks
of the famous Black Watch alone there
were no less than forty Scottish gentle
men serving es privates; so all corps,
thought Dick, could not be like 81. III. Flu
slliers with all the mystical letters.
Anyhow, he should "levant."
He would turn s clean pair of heels to
the whole matter if possible, and just as
the sun YVES setting and darkness closing,
he would set about an examination of the
place in which he found himself, aided
and inspired by all that he mad read in his
tales Of boys adventures by 1ood and
field, and their hair breadth escapes from
savsges, pirates, man eating tigers and
demons too.
The narrow closet or cell-if such it
he knew, Of corridor, sd
Joining the Office or apartment, occupied
Dy che inspector and his constsOles. whose
voices and heavy footsteps, muffl ID by
distance and closed doors, he could hear
from time to time.
It's ceiling was lofty, and It had a small
window somewhat high in the external
wall, but above his hermlt-liKe couch,
and thereby not inaccessible to one who
could climb deity ss q squirrel, like
Dick.
With boy-like agility he scrambled up,
md through the dirt obscured panes saw |
hat it was only about thrice his own |
height from the ground without, and over |
ooked kind Of meadow, beyond which |
spread the open country; while in the |
immediate foreground were some leaf
ess trees and hedgerows, already becom-
rg shrouded in the rising, silvery haze
If the EVENING"
He found also that the window was
migrated, but secured by screw, stiff
,ned by rust, through upper and lower
thus his place of sequestration
vas certainly not one for prisoners of a
desperate class. Both sashes, II open,
would make an aperture SO small that no
ully grown man OF moderate size could
lave escaped thereby; but Dick WAS
)oy-young, supple and slender-and
boys can achieve tests OF agility in which
. grepsdier would fail. So his spirits
'ose, and could he but get the window,or
even the lower hall thereof, open without
loise or exciting an alarm, ne resolved
hat mis- place in Woodstock should be va
ant in the morning.
This desire wss enhanced by q certain
Y that once or twice he heard the voice
II Corporal Cutters in the constables'
DOM.
The darkness fell completely, and Bin
70 whined and crept close to him for
and warmth. "Faith in a
,eloved superior is perhaps the most
'eautiful and affecting of all the attrib-
ties of dog" says 6 writer; and GER
ainly the little terrier had the most sub
ime faith IN Dick.
The latter could not bring himself to
ecline on, or even use in any way, the
'lanket assigned for his use. He was
harp enough to imsgine. with great dis
rust, Whist manner of inmate might have
lsed it lsst; and now, boy like, his spirit
ose higher, as the time for action came
learer.
But If his fingers proved unable to turn
he old screw and open the window, or If
3ipgo barkei at the attempt and raised
n alarm-what then?
Dick shrewdly expected that final
'isit would be paid him about or sitter
lightfall. Then he would be left COM
,leteIy to himself, and have about four
cen hours of darkness and gloom in
which to make the attempt to escape from
al &c o,Nnr